Who decides what art is great art?

There is a never-ending stream of things to busy our minds with and certainly more than I could possibly hope to write dedicated posts about. So, I’ve decided to introduce a series to The Kulturalist that will spotlight a few particularly memorable cultural experiences.

The Culture Companion will be a monthly-ish (emphasis on the “ish”) curation of what I’ve been reading, watching, and listening to. This series will be a space for building bridges from one idea to another and for sharing those ideas with you.

Africa Is Not a Country

I had the pleasure of going to the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2022 where I got to hear Dipo Faloyin discuss his debut book Africa Is Not a Country.

I had the greater pleasure of reading the book last month and couldn’t believe I’d deprived myself of this kind of non-fiction for my entire readerly life. No other book has made me this hyped about reading more non-fiction.

Africa Is Not a Country is described as a bright portrait of modern Africa. It’s an intelligent and witty exploration of often untold histories and stories from across the continent, including the restitution of stolen artefacts, the dangers of international aid, and the forced construction of nations.

Modern Africa was designed against its will to be a divided thing … The irregular births of its nations, and the short time they’ve had to deal with the ramifications, underlie why so many are still fighting to overcome deep, foundational challenges.

It’s Time to Ditch the Canon of Great White Men

Although I’m not an avid podcast listener, Intelligence Squared is a podcast I would listen to religiously if I were an avid podcast listener.

This episode is a debate about the movement to decolonise curriculums to include a more diverse range of authors. The argument revolves around whether reading lists should be built based on the universal value of a work or on the identity of the writer.

What I love about this episode is how it reveals that the process of decolonising a subject is a lot more complicated than just tossing a couple of diversity tokens into a syllabus. It ultimately boils down to the question of who gets to decide what qualifies as great art.

Why Read Books from Other Continents

It’s always a delight to find someone writing about a topic you thought you were the only one deeply concerned about.

I’ve recently come across the newsletter called from Luiza B. Campos and I know I’ll be spending the next few weeks deep diving into its archive. I wanted to share her post about why it’s necessary to read books from beyond the UK/US, which includes reading recommendations from across different continents.

You can read Luiza’s post here.

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